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Zywa Jul 2021
A frugal half light

is sufficient for wise words --


since they shine themselves.
LXIV - "Op heel en half licht" (LXIV - "On full and half light", 1860, Petrus de Génestet)

Collection "Inmost"
Zywa Jan 2023
After a few years,

his love is dull, his smell not --


pleasant anymore.
"Verwachtingen" ("Expectations", 2022, Thomas Heerma van Voss)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 20s and 30s"
Zywa Dec 2022
After her reproach,

the street noise only slowly --


returns to his mind.
"Het Bureau - Plankton" ("The Office - Plankton", 1997, Han Voskuil), page 93

Collection "Not too bad [1947-1973]"
Zywa Jun 2020
After letting go

I breathe again, my chest full –


of expectations.
For Maria Godschalk #81

Collection "Summer birds"
Zywa Oct 2022
After making love

I do feel just enough cold --


to feel that I'm strong.
"Winterochtend" ("Winter morning", 1975, Herman de Coninck) --- Collection "Shortages"
Zywa Oct 2022
After making love

we say nothing, without words --


there can be no lies.
"Een tijd buiten de tijd" ("A time outside time", 2016, Susan Smit)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 0s and 10s"
Zywa Nov 2022
After my last word,

the closing point also crossed --


the border with me.
1986, fled from Iran to Sweden

"Dagdrömmeri utan datum" ("Daydreaming without date", 2009, Jila Mossaed)

Collection "Being my own museum"
Zywa Jan 25
After our wedding

there's just the two of us, now --


we must be happy.
Novel "De verdronkene" (2005, "The Storm" / "The drowned", 2010, Margriet de Moor), § 3-5 and § 3-6

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 0s"
Zywa Feb 2021
After school, running

across the street the fastest –


straight to the sweetshop.
Collection "Mosaic virus"
Zywa Mar 2019
After the crossing

I've tea with the ferryman –


no need to travel.
Collection "Webgarden"
Zywa Jun 14
After the defeat,

his doubts buzz around him like --


a mosquito cloud.
Novel "Victory City" [Vijayanagar >> Bisnaga] (2023, Salman Rushdie), part 1: Birth, chapter 8

Collection "Low gear"
Zywa Mar 1
After the **** breach,

somewhere in the water, still --


a howling siren.
Composition #021 "hYDAtorizon" for paino, string quartet and video ("Rooted in water", 1988, Yannis Kyriakides), performed by Quatuor Bozzini and Reinier van Houdt in the Organpark on November 26th, 2023

Collection "org anp ark" #327
Zywa Jan 2
After the fireworks

I don't see any ghosts left --


only ***** snow.
Collection "Foghorn"
Zywa Mar 2023
After the garden

party: deflated balloons --


Colourful cherries.
Collection "On living on [1]"
Zywa Feb 2019
I just let the pointless anger
rage around in my head
and bang the door

behind my sadness
to search for a way out
of your incomprehension

which I can not bear
I am suffering, knowing not
to be a child, you're not my mother

who could read my face
whether open or closed
We have to take pains:

married love, wanting
to go together through life
under a yoke, not running away

after the years of romance
LATIN iugum = yoke
LATIN coniunx = spouse, "joined together"

Collection "Without reserve"
Zywa Dec 2018
The failure packed
in boxes without a title
boxes disclosing nothing

of the five tastes
of love, its nettles
and the sticky grass around it

With your stuff, the misunderstandings
the quiet pain of distance and
not retell-able jokes

which I immediately forgot
in my ache
for company

Bye boxes, bye love
it’s okay to leave me now
alone with the afterthought

Farewell, there’s no purpose in this
the god of adieu
doesn’t exist
Collection “Freend”
Zywa Nov 2020
After waking up

being quite yourself again –


as new as the day!
Collection "Once more"
Zywa Apr 2022
Dad did it unnoticed
I was his princess
he fulfilled all my wishes
and I had no suspicion

We moved to France
I didn't have much to do
besides my lessons, enough
time for Eddie, a nice boy

I had the age
and suddenly it went fast
the engagement, the secret
of the rings, tailor, hairdresser

and then finally the wedding
Afterwards, I asked questions
Mama taught me that there is more
than the things that happen to us

more than what goes wrong
between people, we walked
away from the men
and counted our blessings
Collection "It takes a lot of tries to make a début"
Zywa Feb 1
Afterwards it is

only vague what it was like:


a passion, a pain.
Novel "Buiten is het maandag" ("Outside, it's Monday", 2003, J. Bernlef), § 8-1

Collection "Over"
Zywa Aug 2022
Afterwards we know

everything, we are silent --


are mighty silent.
"De kennismaking - Faxen aan Ger #1" ("The introduction - Faxing to Ger #1", May 11th, 1997, published 2017, Nicolien Mizee)

Collection "Out of place"
Zywa Oct 2023
At home, no clothes on
brushing my hair
putting on makeup
laughing in the mirror

Toasting myself:
I love me
after you

At home, no clothes on
the curtains open
free, free in sight
of the dark

In the night I am free
in the night I love me
after you

Let the streets see me
let the night see me
I'm not going to hide
after you

Everyone may see me
I love me
after you
Song "I Love Me After You" (2023, Mitski, album "The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We")

Collection "Reaching out"
Zywa Sep 2021
The old library: full

of preserved books
hard-cover descriptions
of the world, obvious

as it once was, shelf after shelf
centuries and days, the times
have changed, people have not

I experience their fortunes, I
dream of it, and all the more
my hungry body reaches

out, to belong closely together
eye for an eye, arm for an arm
and laugh for a laugh, to hear

to smell and to feel, to enjoy
the warmth, to shiver from the cold
and sometimes to cry together with grief

in a full life
Collection "More"
Zywa Apr 2019
A full moon and I

lie and listen all night long –


to the silent dark.
This was my very first 5-7-5 poem, written on Friday September 25th, 1992

Collection "Moons"
Zywa May 2020
A full moon today,

I won't go to sleep for hours –


I will look at you.
Collection "Moons"
Zywa Oct 2
A full moon tonight,

light pink like a peach, perfect --


and inedible.
Poem "het meesterwerk: lichtrose maan, vol" ("the masterpiece: light-pink moon, full", 1978, Gerrit Kouwenaar)

Collection "Inwardings"
Zywa Jul 2022
Here I lie, no respiratory mask
There is a little wind
I get too little air

to talk, no energy
My body is busy
eliminating the virus

I have no strength for anything
don't even fancy nuts or chocolates
just sleep, I would like to sleep

And wake up well rested
In bed next to you. I go too far
I'll only go to sleep after you have left

There are few colours, high veils
no thunderstorm in the air, no birds
From above I see us lying

Our breath is exactly the same
Five meters apart, we are
not really trespassing

I haven't caught your little bird yet
For Maria Godschalk

Social distancing to prevent infection

"Il Decameron" (Boccaccio, Anno 1353), 5th day, 4th story: because of the heat, Caterina is allowed to sleep on the balcony, where she listens to the nightingale; in the morning her father Lizio sees her naked with her friend Ricciardo, holding his nightingale in her hand; Lizio calls his wife to show her what kind of bird Caterina has caught
uccello = bird, usignolo = nightingale

Pier Paolo Pasolini filmed this story in 1971

Collection "It takes a lot of tries to make a début"
Zywa Feb 2022
Again, another

day has passed, again it is --


time to feed myself.
"An accidental man" (1971, Iris Murdoch)

Collection "Unspoken"
Zywa Feb 2022
Again no message

in a bottle, no true love --


beginning for me.
"Vindeling" ("Findling", 2019, Vonne van der Meer)

Collection "VacantVoid"
Zywa May 2023
A gale bumps and beats

branches away, gates open --


bears into their caves.
Collection "Without reserve"
Zywa Sep 5
A gentle breath blows

into the lap of my house --


a tender caress.
Painting "Burly Cobb's House, South Truro" (1933, Edward Hopper)

Collection "NightWatch"
Zywa Oct 2022
A giggle echoes

from the cave, door after door --


is quickly closed up.
"Tom Poes en de grote Barribal" ("Tom **** and the Mighty Barribal", 1965-1966, Marten Toonder)

Collection "Bearer Toonder"
Zywa Oct 2022
A girl in the camp

is forced to sing every night --


In her heart she cries.
Deportations
"Different Trains - After the war" (1988, Steve *****), performed by the Dudok Quartet on Friday September 30th, 2022

Collection "org anp ark" #225
Zywa Jan 2022
A glimpse of grandad,

he left immediately --


yet I still smell him.
"Außer sich" ("Beside Myself", 2017, Sasha Marianna Salzmann)

Collection "Ya, a tightrope walk"
Zywa Feb 21
A golden story

is not forged of sparkling truth --


It shines with deceit.
Novel "The Golden House" (2017, Salman Rushdie), chapters (1-) 6 and (2-) 23

Collection "Low gear [2]"
Zywa Jan 2022
A good intention

just comes down to self-knowledge --


and being content.
"Weg met voornemens" ("Stop New Year's resolutions", 2018, Ellen Deckwitz)

Collection "Willegos"
Zywa Jan 2021
A great vernissage:

the hall full of pedestals –


with empty glasses.
“Gezel in marmer” (“Journeyman in marble”, 2006, Anjet Daanje)

Collection "Stream"
Zywa Feb 2022
A group deforms you:

you must conform, be alike --


or will be kept out.
Collection "The drama"
Zywa Mar 2020
A group like loose grains

is open for everyone –


to participate.
Collection "Being"
Zywa Jul 2020
A guest: carefully

she settles into a chair –


she does not know yet.
“Binnenkomst” (“Entering”, 2016, Joke van Leeuwen)

Collection "Actively Passive"
Zywa Jun 2019
Ah, Desire, the son

of Love and War: so playful –


and so destructive.
"The power of love – The myths of Pygmalion, Narkissos, Tereus, Orpheus and Helena" ((1999, Imme Dros)

Eros, son of Aphrodite and Ares
Zywa Apr 2020
A height is a depth,

a black abyss deep below –


your cramping fingers.
#103 - "Heer Bommel en de wilde wagen” (#103 - "Tom **** and the wild wagon”, 1963, Marten Toonder)

Collection "Bearer Toonder"
Zywa Jan 2021
A herd of horses

or cows, that is wonderful! –


Crowds of people too?
“Dissertationes” (“Discourses”, 135 AD, Epictetus)

Collection "Human excess"
Zywa Nov 1
Ah, I would like to

educate my enemies --


And my friends as well.
Novel "Requiem voor een vriend" ("Requiem for a friend", 2002, Han Voskuil), chapter 1961-1964, December 28th, 1963 - Amsterdam, Jan Bruggeman ['Breugelman'] (and Han Voskuil)

Collection "Not too bad"
Zywa Mar 2022
A human doesn't

belong to humanity --


It is not a group.
The concept of humanity is fictitious

Collection "The drama"
Zywa Nov 2018
Just going to bed alone
at midnight, it makes no sense
to warm his place for him
or to guess in recovery position
where he could be

At times I find an M
in a heart somewhere
with a smile
I put that note
in my yearbook

When I go peeing at night
I see him lie, being awake
enough to get confused
by the odour of his sleep
and then I have to wait
      
Take all the time in the morning
For love
Collection "More"
Zywa Nov 2021
Air: always moving,

whether you listen or not --


your ears will vibrate.
"Solo VIII - Air" (2016, Claudio F. Baroni)

Collection "org anp ark" #176
Zywa Dec 2021
A jar full of worms:

they're trying to creep away --


without a leader.
Collection "Mosaic virus"
Zywa May 2021
A Jolly Roger

swings its way through the reed beds –


the ducks flutter up.
Collection "PumicePieces"
Zywa Aug 2023
A kiss, naked I

stand before you, I'm not me --


I am your lover.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "SEARCH"

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 0s and 10s"
Zywa Apr 2019
A knife is flashing

in the night, in my hand, no!


in my dream, I hope.
Collection "From Sacred Scriptures"
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